History

Waterloo County, created in 1853 and dissolved in 1973, was the forerunner of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. It consisted of five townships: Woolwich, Wellesley, Wilmot, Waterloo, and North Dumfries. The major population centres were Waterloo, Kitchener (known as Berlin prior to 1916), Preston, Hespeler, Blair, and Doon in Waterloo township; Galt in North Dumfries; Elmira in Woolwich; and New Hamburg in Wilmot. All are now part of the Regional Municipality.[1]

Writing for a More Recent Birth, Marriage, or Death Record

ServiceOntario, Birth Records is the only government-authorized source for obtaining birth certificates. Go to the section entitled "Order a Birth Search". This is the most economical, searches the widest time period, and allows searches for people not immediately related. A letter of information is provided rather than a certificate.

ServiceOntario, Death Records offers a death search option and a historical certificate option. Also official death certificates are available to a wider range of relatives than birth and marriage certificates.

FamilySearch Library Microfilmed Records

Some of the church/civil records have been microfilmed by FamilySearch.These microfilms may be available for viewing at Family History Centers around the world. To find a microfilm:

b. You will also see above the list the link Places within Canada, Ontario, Waterloo County. This will take you to a list of towns in the counties, which are links to records for the specific town.

c. Click on any topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.

d. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the microfilm listed for the record. . The magnifying glass indicates that the microfilm is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the microfilm.

Church Records

Church records can include baptisms, marriages, burials, membership lists, financial business, and other records for a particular congregation. They may be available online or on microfilm, but frequently they are still with the local church or in centralized archives by religion. The Canadian census records asked for the religion of those listed, so you will be able to narrow down which archives to consult. For help with writing a letter requesting copies of records, see Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy.

Cemetery Records

See, Ontario Cemeteries for information on cemetery record collections not yet digitized, but available in published sources and on microfilm.

Online Cemetery Records

Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid website has a free, searchable database of over 2 million burials in Ontario. It can be searched by name, cemetery, county and town, but its references do not include dates of death. Although it does not include any gravestone inscriptions, it can be used to locate graves in Ontario.

History

Boundary Changes

1837 - The townships of Proton, Luther, Melancthon and Amaranth become part of the County of Waterloo.

1838 - The townships of Waterloo, Wilmot, Woolwich, and some reserved lands west of Woolwich were to become part of the County of Waterloo.

1840 - Halton County is divided into the East Riding and the West Riding. The West Riding contains the townships of Garafraxa, Nichol, Woolwich, Guelp[h, Waterloo, Wilmot, Dumfries, Puslinch, Eramosa, and others.

1845 - West Riding of Halton County designated as County of Waterloo. Waterloo County included the townships of Arthur, Amaranth, Bentinck, Derby, Eramosa, Egremont, Guelph, Glenelg, Garrafraxa [sic], Holland, Luther, Mornington, Minto, Maryborough, Melancthon, Normanby, Nichol, Peel, Proton, Puslinch, Sydenham, Sullivan, Waterloo, Wilmot, Woolwich, and Wellesley. Erin was included for all purposes except Legislative Assembly representation, while Dumfries was included for purposes of Legislative Assembly representation.

1850 - Waterloo County includes the townships of Arthur, Amaranth, Bentinck, Derby, Eramosa, Egremont, Erin, Guelph, Glenelg, Garrafraxa [sic], Holland, Luther, Mornington, Minto, Maryborough, Melancthon, Normanby, Nichol, Peel, Proton, Puslinch, Sydenham, Sullivan, Waterloo, Wilmot, Woolwich, and Wellesley. Land included in Waterloo County included land to the north ot the Townships of Derby, Arran, and Saugeen and between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, that had been known as the Indian Reserve.

1852 - Waterloo County alters in size. Townships within Waterloo County are North Dumfries, Waterloo, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich. The southern half of Dumfries went to Brant County.

1973 - Waterloo County is dissolved.

Cities

1912 - Berlin became a City.

1915 - Galt became a City.

1916 - Berlin changed its name to Kitchener.

1948 - Waterloo became a City.

1973 - Cambridge (city) is created by amalgamation of the towns of Galt, Preston, and Hespeler, and parts of Noth Dumfries Township and Waterloo Township. Waterloo remains a City, loses a part to Kitchener, and gains a part of Waterloo Township. Bridgeport lost its status and became part of the city of Kitchener, along with parts of Waterloo (city) and Waterloo (township). Parts of the townships of Beverly and North Dumfries and Ayr (village) amalgamate as North Dumfries Township.

Towns

1851 - Guelph became a Town. Annexed to Wellington District in 1852.

1857 - Galt became a Town.

1870 - Berlin became a Town.

1876 - Waterloo became a Town.

1900 - Preston became a Town.

1901 - Hespeler became a Town.

1922 - Elmira (village) becomes a Town.

1966 - New Hamburg became a Town.

1973 - New Hamburg lost its status and became part of Wilmot Township. Elmira and St. Jacobs lost their status and became part of Woolwich Township.

Other

1850 - Galt became a Village.

1852 - Preston became a Village.

1854 - Berlin became a Village.

1857 - New Hamburg and Waterloo became Villages.

1859 - New Hope was incorporated as Hespeler (village).

1883 - Ayr became a Village.

1886 - Elmira became a Village.

1904 - St. Jacobs became a Police Village.

1906 - Hawkesville became a Police Village.

1907 - Bridgeport became a Village and St. Clements and Baden became Police Villages.

1908 - Wellesley became a Police Village.

1915 - Conestogo became a Police Village.

1919 - Linwood became a Police Village.

1962 - Wellesley changed its status to Village.

1973 - Bridgeport lost its status and became part of the city of Kitchener. St. Clements, Wellesley, and Linwood lost their status and became part of Wellesley Township. Conestogo lost its status and became part of Wilmot Township. Ayr lost its status and became part of North Dumfries Township.

Record Loss

Census: in both North Dumfries and Wellesley Townships 1851 Census one Division of each has been lost with time.

Places/Localities

Populated Places

Townships

North Dumfries

Wilmot

Waterloo ( 1861 map of township)

Woolwich

Wellesley Neighboring Counties

Neighboring Counties

Perth | Oxford | Brant | Wellington

Resources

Cemeteries

For general information about Ontario cemeteries, please read about Cemeteries in the Province of Ontario Resources - Cemeteries.

Websites

The Forebears website will give you an extensive list of websites that could have information for people who lived in this county. Some sites cover just the county, some cover all of Ontario, and some cover all of Canada. Some sites are databases of names and facts about people; other sites cover background information such as maps, history, geography, or genealogy strategies and methods for the region.